The Norwegian Christmas Tree That Has Been Sent to London Every Year Since 1947

Every December since 1947, the City of Oslo has felled a substantial Norway spruce (typically 20–25 metres tall and 60–100 years old) in the Nordmarka forest north of Oslo and shipped it to London. It stands in Trafalgar Square through the Christmas season, decorated in the traditional Norwegian style — vertical strings of plain white lights, no tinsel, no coloured ornaments. The tree is felled in a ceremonial occasion attended by the Lord Mayor of Westminster, the Norwegian Ambassador, and the Mayor of Oslo. The lighting in Trafalgar Square occurs in early December and is attended by approximately 6,000 people.

The continuing gift is a thank-you for Britain’s wartime sheltering of the Norwegian government and royal family.

What it commemorates

Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940. The Norwegian armed forces resisted for approximately two months, surrendering on 7 June 1940 after the Allied withdrawal from Narvik. King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav (later Olav V), and the Norwegian government boarded the British cruiser HMS Devonshire at Tromsø that day and were evacuated to the United Kingdom. They remained in London for the subsequent five years.

The Norwegian government-in-exile operated from offices in Kingston House South in Kensington. The merchant fleet (approximately 1,000 ships, the fourth-largest in the world in 1940) was operated under Norwegian flag from London throughout the war and carried approximately 40% of the petroleum supplies that reached Britain through the worst of the U-boat campaign. Norwegian special forces trained at British facilities mounted the substantial sabotage operation against the German heavy-water plant at Vemork in 1943 that terminated the German nuclear programme.

The king broadcast regularly to occupied Norway from the BBC throughout the war. He returned to Oslo on 7 June 1945 — five years to the day after the evacuation.

The tree

The first Trafalgar Square tree was sent in December 1947 by the Mayor of Oslo, on behalf of the Norwegian people, as a continuing token of thanks. The gift was supposed to be a one-time gesture; it has continued without interruption for 79 consecutive years.

The annual selection ceremony — the Treet — takes place at a specific Nordmarka location chosen each year by the Oslo city forester. The tree is felled with a ceremonial axe (initial cuts only) and then by mechanical chainsaw, loaded onto a specialised low-loader truck, driven across Norway to the port of Brevik, loaded onto a North Sea ferry, and transported to Felixstowe in Suffolk. The Westminster City Council collects it from Felixstowe and installs it in Trafalgar Square approximately one week before the formal lighting.

The 2020 tree was the subject of unusual public commentary — its shape, with gaps in the lower branches, was described in the British press as “a scraggly twig” and “a Christmas tree that’s seen better days.” The Royal Norwegian Embassy in London issued a dignified statement noting that the tree had survived a difficult Nordmarka growing season and was being sent with the same continuing gratitude as the previous 73. The annual gift has continued since without further controversy.

The Halifax explosion’s surviving Christmas tree tradition — the annual Halifax-to-Boston tree sent since 1971 in commemoration of the American medical relief effort after the 1917 disaster — is the closest parallel international civic tradition. Both are continuing institutional thanks for a specific historical favour, sustained without break across generations.